Minestrone In A Minute or Two

I'm exploring a cookbook entitled The Passionate Palate: Recipes for Cooking Up A Delicious Life by Desiree Witkowski. This is one of those cookbooks I've had forever, and love to read, but have never cooked from before. I decided to start to change that by trying the "Perfect Minestrone" on page 225. But first, a question...

Exactly how is it that frozen vegetables can sit out all day and not be unfrozen? Does my sink have some special coolometer or antigriddle that I'm not aware of?

I deliberately opened the three frozen veggie packages in the morning before I left for work so that they would be (according to the recipe) unfrozen by the time it came to adding them into the soup pot. They appeared mostly unfrozen, so I ran some cold water over them, and let them drain and sit for a bit longer as I prepared the other items.

Unfrozen Veggies?

My first consideration was flavor. There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, but I saw nary a typical Italian flavor. No garlic, thyme, bay leaves, pancetta (which I've used before). Heck, not even any salt and pepper is called for. For me, lack of flavor indicators is a blatant invitation to mess with the recipe. And so I did.

I chopped some frozen bacon and threw it into the pot. How do you chop frozen bacon? Use a big knife and a little hammer. Works well for winter squash, too. I chopped all of the frozen bacon, and put it back into the freezer in small, labeled bags. I prayed I'd be able to locate it again.

Can you find the bacon?

I sliced up two onions and threw them in with the bacon, along with three cloves of garlic. A a can of whole tomatoes were chopped them right into the pot, though I reserved the liquid for later. I also added in a bunch of thyme,  oregano, sage, and rosemary; no idea how much - maybe a tablespoon of each?

Saute of Onions, Garlic, Tomatoes, Spices

The recipe called for 6 cups of chicken broth. I added that in and then stood back to ponder. If this is supposed to feed 10 people, that should mean 10 servings, right? 6 cups of water won't do that. I'd think it would be at least a cup of liquid per person, so added a couple additional cups of chicken stock.

The recipe then calls for you to let the liquid set for 30 minutes on low. I didn't trust that...not one bit. I brought it to a boil, and then turned it back. Meanwhile, in another pot, I brought water to boil and prepared some macaroni.

You can add any short pasta to minestrone, and I've even used broken spaghetti or linguine. This time, I decided to empty a box of macaroni. And the recipe suggested cooking it separately, particuarly if you weren't sure how many times the soup would be reheated. I had no clue, so heated separately.

I also heated up the oven so I could heat up some garlic bread to accompany. I thought about a salad...nah. I'll do that later this week.

I opened one of those tiny bottles of wine...the kind you can get in four packs? Really handy for cooking, especially when I wouldn't know what to do with a whole bottle. I couldn't possibly drink an entire bottle of wine by myself - I'd never make it to the bed, let alone to work the next morning. The little bottles are the perfect size. I added 3/4 of a bottle of Barefoot Merlot and saved just a bit to drink.

Then I thought about the vegetables. The recipe called for 3 10oz bags. I couldn't find any 10oz bags, but I could find 16oz bags and got three. And opened three. And more or less thawed three. That's a lot of extra vegetables. I delayed the addition and put the can of kidney beans in instead. The reserved tomato juice was also thrown in and I checked on the pasta. I also checked on the soup and was surprised - it tasted good! I could really taste the addition of the rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme.

I went back to the vegetables and scooped up two cups, and placed them into the soup pan. I stirred. Not quite enough. I added another two cups, perhaps three cups. Just right. The pasta was also finished so I drained it and reserved until it was time to serve.

Veggies added

Bread went into the oven, and I chopped up some scallions for the soup. I also got out the Parmesan cheese and Fiestaware bowls.

In the end, I did add too many vegetables. I had veggies leftover in my bowl, and before freezing the leftovers made sure that I removed some veggies. I can't imagine what this would have tasted like without the simply adaptation of adding freshly chopped garlic, and dried thyme, sage, oregano, and rosemary; freshly chopped basil would have been a fanastic addition at the end of preparation. The bacon didn't stand out in the end, but added a nice depth, as did the entire bottle of red wine (I ended up throwing the whole thing in.) The addition of scallions and parmesan enhanced the flavor, and I can imagine that the suggested pesto would do the same. Overall, not bad. I can't say I'll make it again - I so rarely repeat a recipe. While I can't say that the soup is "perfect," it is mighty fine, and deserves a place in my recipe collection for versatality if nothing else.

Perfect Minestrone
adapted from The Passionate Palate

1-2 slices bacon
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T each thyme, oregano, and sage
2 t rosemary
6 cups chicken broth (or more as needed)
1 14 oz can whole tomatoes, drained & chopped
4 cups mixed frozen vegetables - spinach is a must
1 15oz can kidney beans
1-2 cups good quality red wine to taste
small pasta, cooked

Cook the bacon in a good sized soup pot. Thinly slice the onions, add to the pan, and stir. Add the minced garlic, and then the thyme, sage, and rosemary. Let steep a bit, and stir occasionally. Add the tomatoes and broth, bring to a boil, and then turn down to low. Cook for 30 minutes to allow flavors to mingle. Add everything else - the vegetables, beans, wine, even the pasta if it's cooked. Turn off the heat and cover. Let stand two minutes or longer until heated through. Serve with Parmesan, chopped scallions, or pesto.